MTN Ghana pays GH¢605m in taxes

The leading Telecommunication network, MTN Ghana paid a total of GH¢605.138 million in excess of taxes to the government of Ghana in the year 2014.

Addressing editors in the Central Region on Wednesday in Cape Coast, the Corporate Service Executive of MTN, Mrs. Cynthia Lumor hinted that the Company also paid GH¢31.5m as fees and duties and GH¢26.6m as international incoming traffic to the National Communication Authority (NCA).

She said though 2014 was a challenging year with high inflation, depreciation of the cedi, power disruptions as well as higher utility tariffs, the company still managed to make a profit of about GH¢1.9 billion of which it paid the said amount as tax to the Government.

She indicated that the Company’s compliance in filling tax returns in earnest, earned it the overall taxpayer for the year 2014 by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

Mrs. Lumor stressed that MTN as one of the big tax payers in the country was poised to implement sustainable projects that would enrich the lives of Ghanaians, adding that, ”we are committed towards the building of vital infrastructure and services to Ghanaians”.

She said MTN Ghana spent in excess of GH¢9.4 million and GH¢15.8 million of what it had budgeted to spend on fuel and electricity respectively in 2014 due to the power outages.

Among its challenges, she mentioned, was the excess spending of GH¢9.4m and GH¢15.8 million against what it had budgeted for on fuel and electricity respectively in 2014 due to the power disruptions.

Also, fibre cuts, battery theft and SIM box fraud remained a major challenge facing the telecoms industry with MTN alone losing a little over $4.8 million due to battery theft and fibre cuts last year, and called for support from the general public to ensure that these menace were brought under control.